TVA's solar energy plan needs more support

4:41 AM,
Jun. 12, 2013

Achintya Ray

Written by

Achintya Ray, Ph.D.

TVA already has met its solar energy purchase quota for 2013. More than half of 2013 remains, and there is a considerable amount of unmet demand for solar power quota in the market. This is unfortunate, given that prices of solar panels are currently in historically low levels.

TVA buys solar energy at a premium from private producers. Under the current arrangement, increasing the quota at the prevailing level of premium may require substantially more budget, which may be difficult to find.

There may be two more ways TVA could have improved the efficiency of its solar energy program. Both of ...